A paper submitted to Dr. Jayne Gackenbach as
part of the course requirements for Psy 473 (Sleep and Dreams),
April, 1997

"The unconscious is the name given to the
container of the somethings which
are able to interfere with the normal conscious directions of
life." This basic description of the states of being
reflects the view of the conscious/unconscious dichotomy; a view
held by Western thought for a considerable period of its history.
Attempts to define this dichotomous relationship has been argued
from various standpoints with little success as one soon realizes
that the distinction is insufficient and simplistic. The concept
of the states of being was drastically altered when Carl Jung
abandoned the notion of the dichotomy by introducing a division
of the psyche into groups. More importantly, he was able to
justify his claims, particularly through his work with
schizophrenics, whose visions he postulated as being empirical
manifestations of the unconscious. In order to see if this
evidence is valid, one must examine Jungs theory of the
states of being, as well as its parallels with the visions of
schizophrenics and the dreaming of "normals".

When examining Jungs description of the states of being,
one discovers that the definitions of the terms are relatively
consistent with previous descriptions. Rather, a unique and
distinguishing feature of his teaching was his division of the
contents of the unconscious as well as his explanation of its
relation to consciousness. Essentially, the underlying difference
was Jungs contention that the relation between conscious
and unconscious states emerged from separations in energy
thresholds. This accounts for the fact that material in the
unconscious is not as easily recoverable as it explains that the
items in this area are at a deeper level with a much higher
threshold. Therefore, one would require more activation in order
to bring these items into consciousness. This analogy of the
states of being as defined by energy thresholds in turn refutes
the dichotomy, viewing the states as comprising a comprehensive
continuum. "For it is rather the case that every psychic
content is to some degree unconscious and that consequently the
psyche is both conscious and unconscious at once...."

"According to Jung, the most important groupings of the
psychic contents are Consciousness, the Personal Unconscious and
the Collective Unconscious." Jungs notion of the
deeper levels and energy thresholds also applied to his division
of the unconscious into the personal and the collective. The
personal unconscious was identified as residing closer to the
surface of consciousness with a threshold lower than that of the
collective unconscious as it "...comprises personal
experiences that have been repressed and forgotten." These
psychic elements have essentially fallen out of consciousness and
may therefore be considered as being near consciousness. "In
other words, the top layer of the unconscious is bound up with
the personal characteristics of the individual, and for this
reason Jung calls it the Personal Unconscious: its
contents and the way they are grouped are different in each
individual."

The notion of the personal unconscious is a relatively easy
one to comprehend, but Jungs notion of the collective
unconscious is considerably more complex. Also called the
impersonal, objective or transpersonal psyche, "...[Jung]
defines the collective unconscious as the part of the psyche that
owes existence exclusively to heredity, and not to personal
experiences which had been conscious at one time and then
disappeared from consciousness." Therefore, the contents of
the collective unconscious reside much deeper within the psyche
and, in terms of the analogy of the energy thresholds, possesses
the highest threshold. Therefore, the contents of the collective
unconscious are rarely accessible to the conscious mind. The
uniqueness of this level of the psyche is also in that it belongs
to every man in general, reflecting an inherent part of its
nature. This deeper level of the psychic contents results in a
reflection of the macrocosm as it "...constrains the whole
spiritual heritage of mankinds evolutions, born anew
in the brain structure of every individual."

As a result of the deep threshold and inherent nature of the
contents of the collective unconscious, Jung further hypothesized
that these contents manifested themselves through archetypes.
"As a general rule, the unconscious aspect of any event is
revealed to us in dreams, where it appears not as a rational
thought but a symbolic image." Therefore, the concept of
archetypes consist of "...primordial images and patterns of
symbol formation which recur throughout mankind." These
symbols allowed for the representation of the content of the
collective unconscious in ones dreams. In fact, he felt
that "...dreams are the most frequently and universally
accessible source for the investigation of mans symbolizing
faculty." This most likely arises from the fact that in a
dream state, consciousness is not present to protect the ego from
the manifestations of the unconscious mind.

Jungs discovery of the collective unconscious and the
function of archetypes arose from his own dreams and visions, but
more importantly from the investigation of the fantasies of his
schizophrenic patients. Jungs interpretations of the
visions of schizophrenics is an excellent example of an empirical
manifestation of the unconscious, providing justification for his
division of the psyche. "Jung became increasingly fascinated
by the psychotic ideas of mentally ill people, and particularly
of schizophrenics, and it was in fact his interest in this
material which culminated in his discovery of the collective
unconscious."

The basic tenet of the connection of schizophrenic visions to
the collective unconscious is that "...although
[schizophrenics] have gained an access to the collective
unconscious, they have been, figuratively speaking, swallowed up
by it so they have lost the ability to function as an ego and
relate in a practical way to the objective world." This
ability to be "swallowed up" is related to a
predisposition resulting from an initial psychological problem
which has been present. In fact, Jung felt that whether or not
the problem gains momentum and eventually results in
schizophrenia is dependent on the disposition of the personality
of the individual in question.

The problem that may consequently initiate schizophrenia is
evidence of the connection to the collective unconscious.
According to Jung, the problem may arise from an ignorance of the
content of ones dreams, whose function is to
"...compensate for the deficiencies of their personalities,
and at the same time it warns them of the dangers in their
present course." This compensatory function of dreaming is
particularly related to Jungs contention of psychosis as
"...a mental condition in which formerly unconscious
elements are given the value of a real factor to an extent that
the take the place of reality." In actuality, this
compensation may reside within the boundaries of reality, but
someone who is mentally unbalanced will try to defend themselves
against the elements manifested by their unconscious, refusing to
accept its compensatory significance. This consequently
reinforces one-sidedness which essentially results in an
unhealthy personality. In contrast, Jung contends that a
comprehensive personality is requisite of a healthy balance. This
one-sidedness works in a "vicious circle" as the
ignorance of unconscious manifestations will result in an
intensification of the unconscious to serve in a compensatory
capacity. As a result, the contents of these manifestations will
become more distorted and "...the forms in which they will
become visible and audible will become increasingly bizarre.
Since the material we are dealing with is derived in the
unconscious, its language will be peculiar in any case; however,
owing to the resistance of the conscious mind, it will become
even weirder than before."

This description of the struggle of the conscious and the
unconscious mind in the schizophrenic is particularly relevant
through its reflection of the existence of a collective
unconscious. "The elements of the collective unconscious are
most easily seen in dreams and fantasies because these things are
the least controlled by a conscious sense of the limits of real
life and, as we have said, they are most apparent in all cases of
serious psychoses." This also accounts for the bizarreness
which is characteristic of the visions of schizophrenics as the
general symbols manifested by the collective unconscious are so
far removed from a particular individual that they may appear as
being beyond comprehension. This, in turn, demonstrates that the
conscious mind resists anything conscious and unknown, and their
greater oddness also shows how the conscious psyche tends to
resist them more. Therefore, these oddities will be most likely
to appear "...when one is relaxed and off guard in dreams or
day-dreams...and also in serious cases of mental
disturbance."

The description of the manifestations associated with the
primary symptoms of schizophrenia are not only relevant through
their example of the presence of the collective unconscious, but
also through their connections to and implications for normal
dreaming. For example, the unconscious material associated with a
"normal personality" is identical to that of
schizophrenics. The primary underlying difference, as previously
discussed, is in the reactions associated with this material,
resulting in its emergence into the conscious world. As evidence,
Jung cites the frequent occurrence of latent psychoses. In fact,
"...we find that same analogy existing between the primary
dreams of schizophrenics and the dreams of normal people. You can
even say that the dreamer is normally insane. Both
the personal and the collective dream material is present in the
symptomatology of schizophrenia, though collective material seems
to predominate." As a result, one can describe
schizophrenics as passing their lives in a dreamlike condition.

Overall, "...[Jung] regarded the schizophrenic process as
an archetypal, instinctive reaction which is distorted by
grotesque, absurd and chaotic associations." This inevitably
results in a split between the ego and the complexes because the
schizophrenic resides in and experiences the unconscious as a
normal stimulation. This emerges as a complete split and
disintegration in their personality as they lose a coherent
connection with a comprehensive psychic totality. "It is the
curse of the schizophrenic that he no longer fights for his
unity, but prefers to identify himself with the unconscious
content."

It is clearly evident that the schizophrenic serves as an
example of what Jung hypothesizes to be the division of the
unconscious state into two psyches. The struggle between the
conscious and unconscious mind resulting in this circumstance of
visions characteristic of schizophrenia also suggests that the
compensatory function of dreaming plays a key role in the
development of this disorder. Specifically, it suggests to the
"normal" dreamer that the manifestations of the
unconscious as present in dreams should not be ignored. If so,
they may manifest themselves in various ways, including the
individual becoming consumed by the unconscious message as in
schizophrenics or the realization of what the unconscious had
attempted to forewarn. Therefore, one of the most important
messages that can be derived from Jungs theory of the
states of being is that one should not resist the unconscious
mind as the two exist together in the universe as a comprehensive
reality.